Benedictine University Athletics has volunteered - and been selected - as one of 100 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III institutions to participate in the NCAA Drug Education and Testing Pilot Program during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years. Schools are selected for either participation in drug education and testing or just drug education alone.
Benedictine was selected as a site for both education and testing. The education component may include anything from speakers and classroom seminars, to providing literature for student-athletes regarding the use of banned substances.
The testing aspect, which will be coordinated by Benedictine’s athletics training staff, will permit random testing of student-athletes from the Eagles’ 18 intercollegiate athletics programs during the academic year. Results of individual drug tests will not be provided, and there will be no sanctions for a positive drug test in this pilot program. Institutions will receive, upon request, a report of the aggregate data from the drug tests conducted on their campuses. An overall aggregate report will be made semi-annually, by sport, to the Division III governance structure and membership, as well.
“We are honored that Benedictine was selected as a pilot school for this very important program,” said Joanna Fulton, Benedictine’s director of sports personnel and compliance. “In a day and age when student-athletes at all levels are being bombarded with challenges relating to substance abuse, a strong program of education is the critical first step towards prevention.
“We hope that our participation in this program will not only help our own student-athletes, but open the door for other institutions to employ similar programs on their campuses.”
All teams and all student-athletes are subject to drug testing if their institution has volunteered to be part of the NCAA Division III Drug Testing Pilot Program. Drug Free Sport, the NCAA’s administrator of the program, will determine the teams that will be tested at each school. Sixteen to 20 student-athletes at each Division III school may be selected for drug testing. Student-athletes can be tested during their traditional season of competition (e.g. in season) as well as during their non-traditional season of competition (e.g. out of season). Division III student-athletes will not be tested during the summer.
Division III student-athletes who participate in the NCAA Division III Drug Testing Pilot Program will be tested for the following classes of drugs; anabolic agents, diuretics, peptide hormones, urine manipulators, psychomotor and CNS stimulants, and street drugs. The UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory in Los Angeles, California analyzes all NCAA urine samples. The UCLA laboratory is one of the most respected sport drug testing laboratories in the world and is certified by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The UCLA laboratory will then report all drug testing results to Drug Free Sport.
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Benedictine University is an independent Roman Catholic institution located in Lisle, Illinois just 25 miles west of Chicago. Founded in 1887, Benedictine provides 56 undergraduate majors, 16 graduate and four doctorate programs. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently ranked Benedictine University as the seventh fastest-growing campus among private nonprofit master’s universities, and Forbes magazine named Benedictine among the top 20 percent of America’s colleges for 2011. Benedictine University’s Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) program is listed by Crain’s Chicago Business as the fourth largest in the Chicago area in 2011.